Every Halloween, one or another group of my friends and acquaintances will invite me to go re-watch Nightmare Before Christmas. And obviously, I have photographed a lot of hot women who have Tim Burton-inspired tattoos. So I feel like it is appropriately newsworthy to point out that there is a new Tim Burton movie coming out. That goes double, counting the casting of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. (My apologies if I can’t stop thinking of Fight Club quotes whenever she is on screen; I’ll control my Tourette’s and not repeat them now with commentary on how appropriate they are in light of Lewis Carroll’s reported tastes.)

Although I found Nightmare Before Christmas visually lovely, I was discomfited by the the message. Jack Skellington doesn’t get to have a Merry Xmas because he is too weird and spooky? WTF? I believe strongly that you are entitled to the rewards of the larger society, if you earn them. Whether or not you have giant poofy red hair or a head like a jack o’ lantern pumpkin skull.

But that’s just me. And, if the structure of the costuming in Alice in Wonderland seems a bit cynically designed to make it easy for fandom costumers to duplicate, so be it. I think it is cool that Hollywood is pushing the envelope on 3D and, when that kind of dough is at stake, it does help to mitigate risk wherever possible. When it comes to creating entertainment, the line between being intelligently prudent and cruelly cynical is terribly fine. And I don’t pretend to have quite nailed that all down yet philosophically, although I try to keep it in mind.

For now, enjoy the trailer for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and come to your own conclusions.

Most years, friends of mine have pumpkin carving parties. This year, the economy sucks so hard that spending a bunch of dough on squash abuse seems profligate. So I’ve been getting my jack o’lantern fix from the internet and photos of Halloweens past.

The Pumpkin Lady posts, in addition to her premium templates, free pumpkin carving templates. I admit that watching her pumpkin carving videos is not the same as the real thing, but it is still fun.

One of the supermarkets near me hasn’t been selling their pumpkins at all this year. I so deeply want to buy like a zillion of them, when they are marked down on November 1, and have Halloween late this year. And I just might get me and my unsavory pals some pumpkin carving template designs from Pumpkin Lady and do just that. If every day is Halloween anyway, that is really just taking it one step farther. Whoo-hoo! Pushing the envelope!